André-Marie Ampère
André-Marie Ampère is an important visionary of the past. Not unlike Newton and Lord Kelvin, Ampère influenced many different fields of science and natural philosophy. In the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries, most of the significant scientific advances came from Italy, France, and modern-day Germany. Ampère’s story is marked with tragedy along with professional achievement.
swiftly learn things and quickly develop his own methods and theories in mathematics and science. By the age of 13, he had read the whole Encyclopedia. While still only 13 years old, he submitted a paper on mathematics to the Académie de Lyon, never having them accepted or published. As a wealthy merchant, his father assumed the role of ‘Justice of the Peace,’ essentially maintaining the local government. In July 1789, many French citizens mobbed together in revolution to attack a military post, the Bastille , formally beginning the French Revolution. The Jacobins are at the gate The new National Army moved into Lyon in May 1793, during the ‘Reign of Terror.’ After some months of local conflict, the ‘Committee for Public Safety’ entered the newly conquered Lyon and had the justice of the peace sent to prison. This short period of French history was bloodied by teams of revolutionaries who went from town to town and arrested anyone who might be loyal to the French monarchy. Through
this time, an estimated 40,000 people were executed, many by the blade of a guillotine. The executions were widely attended, and people from all over the country would gather to watch. In a letter from his prison cell, waiting for his execution, Jean- Jacques Ampère wrote his final will. In it, he tells his wife how to manage his current financial affairs to ensure the people he owed money to were paid. He laments that he is far from leaving his family rich. He begs that she doesn’t blame this on his bad conduct, but explains that his greatest expense has been the purchase of books and geometrical instruments for young Andre-Marie’s education, ending with ‘ even this expense was a wise economy since he has never had any other master than himself .’ Then, on November 23, 1793, young Ampère ’s life, as he knew it, came to an end. Much of the family’s wealth was seized. The homes they had were lost, and the family retreated to the house his mother grew up in about six miles outside Lyon in a town named Polémieux.
Early life (1775–1793) The son of a merchant
Andre Marie Ampère was born on January 20 th , 1775, in Lyon, France, during the peak of the French ‘Age of Enlightenment.’ His father, Jean-Jacques Ampère, was a successful silk dealer who imported silk from Persia and Italy. His father kept an extensive personal library, and he encouraged his son to study everything. In Ampère ’s own words, his father ‘knew how to inspire in him a desire to know.’ As a child, his favorite book was ‘Buffon’s Natural History,’ but he also studied Euler, Newton, Rousseau, and more. He could
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